Thu, May 19, 2011 at 10:09 AM

1. Is banning circumcision yet another example of the so-called “nanny state” run amok, or is San Francisco finally going to shine a light, so to speak, on a barbaric practice? You decide. Er, San Franciscans are going to decide, because a petition to ban circumcision has qualified for the ballot in the city. AP reports that the ballot initiative received more than 7,700 signatures. If it passes, circumcisizing a boy under the age of 18 would become a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or a year in jail. And sorry, you mohels out there, the ban includes no religious exemptions.

Drink coffee, save your life

2. Coffee lovers, stop feeling guilty, especially if you’re a guy. Sure, that half-dozen cups of java you down every day are probably burning a hole in your stomach, but they may also save you from getting prostate cancer. At least, that’s what a new study appears to show, the Washington Post reports. The study revealed that men who drink six or more cups of coffee a day — caffeinated or decaf, it doesn’t matter — are 20 percent less likely to get prostate cancer and 60 percent less likely to get the deadly kind. And even if you only drink one to three cups a day, you have a 30 percent less chance of contacting the lethal kind of prostate cancer. So go ahead, have another cup.

6. UC Berkeley law school professor Goodwin Liu — not the torture guy, that’s John Yoo — may finally get an up or down vote soon in the US Senate on his nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Trib reports. Republicans have been blocking Liu because he’s a brilliant liberal legal scholar who would instantly become a prime choice for the US Supreme Court when the next vacancy occurs.

7. And surprise, surprise, the University of California is talking about huge tuition increases because of the state’s financial crisis, the CoCo Times reports. UC already has raised tuition by more than 40 percent in the past year, and it could go up every year for the next five.